Compact configurable scanning computer terminal

ABSTRACT

A compact transactional document-scanning terminal that conveniently capture an electronic image of most forms of printed documents at distributed locations, to capture either automatically from the scanned document or manually by operator interactivity all necessary process parameters or codes, to perform an electronic transaction in order to forward all the information to a remote computer or alternatively for local storage within the terminal, and to produce an electronic receipt and/or a paper receipt as a proof that the scan and store transaction has been successful and for later retrieval of information associated with the scanned document. The compact transactional document-scanning terminal may be configured to respond to various customer specifications. For some forms of documents, an image analysis is immediately performed subsequent to the scan in order to extract all or part of the printed information, apply recognition algorithms to decode information and complete automatically the transaction without further human intervention.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.09/441,040, filed Nov. 16, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,710,895, for whichbenefit is hereby claimed under 35 U.S.C. §120, the contents of whichare hereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention pertains to the field of computer terminals andperipherals. More particularly, the present invention relates todocument scanning computer peripherals and to computer terminalsincluding such document scanners.

2. Description of the Related Art

The long heralded advent of the paperless office has so far failed tomaterialize. In fact, the advent of small and powerful computers hasactually led to an increase in the amount of paper generated. A smallfootprint, heavy-duty and high performance document scanner is,therefore, an extremely desirable peripheral that would aidorganizations to streamline document capture, processing and archivingoperations. Traditionally, in large organizations, documents are scannedusing large high-volume document scanners, which because of their highcomplexity and high price, are located in a specialized centralizeddepartment staffed with operators that have neither knowledge of norresponsibility for the content of the documents scanned. The alternativeto such large scanners are desktop scanners. However, currentlyavailable desktop scanners have thus far largely been relegated to homeuses due in part to their slow performance. What are needed, therefore,are small footprint, heavy-duty and high performance document scanningterminals suitable for desktop use in business enterprise environments.

For important documents that are scanned, the original paper copy of thedocument often must be accessible for reference, thus requiring largecentralized storage space with sophisticated environmental controlequipment. However, in order to improve efficiency, there is growingpressure to eliminate the need to access the archived original papercopy. The person performing the document capture, therefore, should beresponsible for ensuring that the document is properly scanned, that anyinformation, parameters or codes associated with the document arecaptured and that an electronic receipt and/or a paper receipt isproduced as proof that the scanning operation has been successfullycompleted. What are also needed, therefore, are document scanners thatgenerate an electronic and/or paper receipt for the documents that arescanned.

Many document scanner currently on the market have a unitaryconstruction, featuring a single, non-modifiable configuration. However,such a configuration might not be appropriate for all uses or for allusers. What is also needed, therefore, are scanning terminals that aremodular in construction, affording users the ability to configure thescanning terminal according to their needs and budgets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide smallfootprint, heavy-duty and high performance document scanning terminalssuitable for desktop use. It is another object of the present inventionto provide document scanners that generate an electronic and/or paperreceipt for the documents that are scanned. A still further object ofthe present invention is to provide scanning terminals that are modularin construction, affording users the ability to configure the scanningterminal to their needs and budgets.

In accordance with the above-described objects and those that will bementioned and will become apparent below, a terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention comprises a display module; adocument scanning module; a cylindrical paper roll rotatably mounted ona spindle within the terminal such that flat edges of the roll aresubstantially parallel to a base surface of the terminal; a receiptprinter assembly, the receipt printer assembly being adapted to print areceipt of a document scanning operation on paper from the cylindricalpaper roll, and control and processing electronics, the control andprocessing electronics being coupled to and controlling an operation ofat least the display module, the document scanning module and thereceipt printer assembly.

According to other embodiments of the invention, the terminal mayfurther comprise a sliding tray supporting the receipt printer assemblyand the cylindrical paper roll, the tray being adapted to slide from afirst position wherein the paper roll and the receipt printer assemblyare disposed within the terminal and a second position wherein both thereceipt printer assembly and the paper roll are exposed to allowsubstantially unencumbered access thereto. A handle may be attached tothe sliding tray for manually pushing and pulling the sliding tray intoand out of the terminal. The sliding tray may be travel-limited toprevent the sliding tray from being pulled out too far and tipping theterminal. The terminal may further comprise a pivoting terminal door anda paper exit guide mounted within the pivoting terminal door, theprinted receipt being fed through the paper exit guide. The receiptprinter assembly may print a readable code on the receipt linking theprinted receipt to information obtained from the document scanningoperation. The terminal may further comprise a code reader configured toread the printed code, to thereby access the information obtained fromthe document scanning operation. The code reader may include a barcodereader. The barcode reader may include a laser barcode reader and/or aCCD bar code reader, for example. The receipt printer assembly mayinclude a read-after-print mechanism to detect scanning or printingfailures. A communications interface adapted to allow the terminal tocommunicate with a remote computer may also be provided. The terminalmay further comprise a smart chip reader coupled to and controlled bythe control and processing electronics. The terminal may further includea keyboard module and/or a display coupled to the control and processingelectronics. At least the display and document scanning modules mayinclude quick release interlocking clips that allow the modules to beattached to or separated from one another and/or a terminal base. Acover to which the display module is fitted may be provided, the coverbeing dimensioned to a size of the display module. The receipt printerassembly may include a printer of a type selected from a group includingthermal print, impact, electric burning and arcing and ink jet types,for example.

The present invention may also be viewed as a document scanningterminal, comprising a scanning module and a receipt printer assemblymodule adapted to print a receipt of a scanning operation from paper fedto the printer assembly by a cylindrical paper roll, the cylindricalpaper roll being disposed within the terminal such that flat edges ofthe roll are substantially parallel to a base surface of the terminal.

According to further embodiments of the document scanning terminal, thereceipt printer may print a readable code on the receipt, the codelinking the printed receipt to information obtained from a scanningoperation carried out by the scanning module. The terminal may furthercomprise a code reader adapted to read the code, to thereby access theinformation obtained from the scanning operation. The scanning terminalmay further comprise a terminal base, a terminal casing removably fittedto the terminal base, the terminal casing enclosing the receipt printerassembly, and a terminal cover removably fitted on the terminal casing.The scanning terminal may further comprise a sliding tray mounted to theterminal base, the sliding tray supporting the receipt printer assemblyand the cylindrical paper roll, the tray being adapted to slide from afirst operative position wherein the paper roll and the receipt printerassembly are enclosed within the terminal casing and a second paperloading and servicing position wherein both the receipt printer assemblyand the paper roll are accessible outside the terminal casing. Theterminal casing may comprise a pivoting door, the door being open whenthe tray is in the second position. The receipt printer assembly and thecylindrical paper roll may alternatively be mounted to the terminal baseand the cylindrical roll of paper may be loaded by detaching theterminal cover from the terminal casing and/or removing the terminalcasing from the terminal base. The scanning module, the terminal base,the terminal casing and the terminal cover may each include quickrelease interlocking clips allowing the scanning module, the terminalbase, the terminal casing and the terminal modules to be attached to orseparated from one another. The scanning terminal may further comprisecontrol and processing electronics housed in the terminal base, theterminal base and the scanning module including mating integrated powerand control connectors to electrically couple the scanning module to thecontrol and processing electronics. The receipt printer assembly modulemay print a readable code on the receipt, the code linking the printedreceipt to information obtained from a scanning operation carried out bythe scanning module. The terminal further may comprise a code readerconfigured to read the printed code, to thereby access the informationobtained from the scanning operation. The scanning terminal may alsocomprise a smart chip reader housed in the terminal base. The scanningmodule may be configured to scan a document having a width of up toabout 225 mm and a length at least about 400 mm. The scanning terminalmay further comprise control and processing electronics housed in theterminal base; a keyboard, and a display, both the keyboard and thedisplay being electrically coupled to the control and processingelectronics. The keyboard and the display may be fitted to the terminalcover.

The present invention is also a modular computer terminal, comprising adocument scanner module; control and processing electronics; a displaymodule and/or a keyboard module; and an integrated printer, wherein themodules each include quick release interlocking clips allowing themodules to be attached to or separated from one another.

According to still further embodiments, the modular computer terminalmay further comprise a terminal base housing the control and processingelectronics; a terminal casing removably fitted to the terminal base,the terminal casing enclosing the printer, and a terminal coverremovably fitted to the terminal casing. The terminal casing may beconfigured to enclose a rotatably mounted cylindrical paper roll thatsupplies paper to the printer, flat edges of the paper roll beingsubstantially parallel to the base surface of the terminal. The printermay be configured to print a receipt after the document scanner modulescans a document, the receipt including a readable code linking theprinted receipt to information associated with the scanned document. Themodular computer terminal may further comprise a code reader configuredto read the code, the display module displaying the informationassociated with the scanned document when the code reader reads the codeprinted on the receipt. The modular computer terminal may furthercomprise a random access mass storage device, the storage device storingand allowing access to the information associated with the scanneddocument. The integrated printer may include a read-after-printmechanism to detect scanning or printing failures. The display modulemay include a touch screen.

The foregoing and other features of the invention are described indetail below and set forth in the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a further understanding of the objects and advantages of the presentinvention, reference should be made to the following detaileddescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a document scanning computer terminal,according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a document scanning terminal accordingto the present invention, showing the quick release interlocking clipsthat allow the scanner module to be readily attached to and separatedfrom the terminal base.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the document-scanning terminal according to thepresent invention, showing the scanner module affixed to the rigidterminal base.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the scanning terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention, showing details of the receiptprinter assembly.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the scanning terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention, showing various possible sizes ofdisplays that may be fitted thereto.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the scanning terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention, showing the scanning terminalfitted with a 6-inch display.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the scanning terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention, showing the scanning terminalfitted with a 12-inch display.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of several embodiments of the keyboardmodule of the scanning terminal according to the present invention,showing several alternative key layouts.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the scanning computer terminal accordingto an embodiment of the present invention, showing the terminal with thecover thereof removed.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the scanning computer terminal showingthe casing removed.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the scanning computer terminalaccording to an embodiment of the present invention, in a disassembledstate.

FIG. 12 shows a perspective view of the terminal base of the scanningterminal of the present invention, enlarged to show detail.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the terminal control electronics of thescanning terminal of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a cross section showing the manner in which the paper rollmay be placed on the sliding tray, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention is a compact transactional document-scanning computerterminal that provides the means to conveniently capture an electronicimage of most forms of printed documents at distributed locations, tocapture all necessary process parameters or codes either automaticallyfrom the scanned document or manually by operator interactivity, toperform an electronic transaction in order to forward all theinformation to a remote computer or alternatively for local storagewithin the terminal, and to produce an electronic receipt and/or a paperreceipt as a proof that the scan and store transaction has beensuccessful and for later retrieval. According to an embodiment of theinvention, the paper receipt is printed from a continuous cylindricalroll of paper contained within the terminal. Optimum compactness isachieved by placing the cylindrical paper roll centrally within theterminal with the flat sides thereof parallel to the base surface of thedevice (i.e., the flat edges of the paper roll are oriented horizontallywhen the terminal itself is disposed on a horizontal supporting surface,for example). The present compact transactional document-scanningterminal is adapted to being configured to respond to various customerspecifications.

For some forms of documents, an image analysis may be immediatelyperformed subsequent to the scan in order to extract all or part of theprinted information from the document, to apply recognition algorithmsto decode information, to store the decoded information and toautomatically complete the transaction without further humanintervention.

The invention includes a base module housing control electronics andcomputer processing means, and of various interlocking and removableperipherals and accessories. Transactional application softwarecorresponding to the type of use may be loaded in the terminal andexecuted during or subsequent to a document scan. Such transactionalapplication software may capture all necessary information, processparameters or codes either automatically from the scanned document ormanually by operator interactivity, may perform an electronictransaction in order to forward all the information to a remote computeror alternatively for local storage within the terminal, and may producean electronic receipt and/or a paper receipt as a proof that the scanand store transaction has been successfully carried out. The paperreceipt may also be used for later retrieval of the informationassociated with the originally scanned document, either from localstorage or from a remote storage location.

Personalization or differentiation of identical or similar terminalconfigurations may be simply achieved by changing the color of some ofthe enclosure parts or changing the shape of some simple trim parts.

The compact document-scanning terminal according to the presentinvention may be variously configured to respond to various customerspecifications, thereby significantly lowering development time, time tomarket and cost. The present configurable scanning terminal mayadvantageously be used for transactional document scanning applicationsin a variety of fields, including banking, finance, legal, accounting,administration, insurance, healthcare, post office, gaming, police,security, retail, education, and transport, for example.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a scanning terminal (or scanningcomputer terminal) according to the present invention. The transactionaldocument-scanning terminal of FIG. 1 may include a casing 10, a documentscanner module 11, a receipt printer assembly 19 (shown in more detail,for example, in FIG. 4) of which only the receipt exit guide 12 isvisible in FIG. 1, a display module 13, a keyboard module 14, a codereader 15, a rigid terminal base 20 that encloses an accessory bay 16and a cover 17. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the printedreceipt 18 is delivered vertically to the side of the terminal throughthe receipt exit guide 12.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a scanning terminal according to thepresent invention, showing the quick release interlocking clips 24 thatallow the scanner module 11 to be readily attached to and separated fromthe terminal base 20. The rigid terminal base 20 supports all of themodules enumerated above and houses the control electronics. FIG. 12shows an enlarged view of the terminal base 20, according to anotherembodiment of the present invention. The scanner module 11 may bequickly separated from the terminal base 20 by acting on the quickrelease interlocking clips 24. The scanner module 11 may be electricallyconnected to the control electronics (shown in FIG. 13) contained in theterminal base 20 via heavy-duty connectors 23 that mate withcorresponding connectors located at the rear (hidden from view in theperspective representation of FIG. 2) of the scanner module 11. Thescanner module 11 may be fitted with a contact image sensor 216 mm inwidth, for example, thereby allowing it to scan letter size documents.In fact, such an embodiment of the scanner module according to thepresent invention may accept paper widths up to 225 mm and paper lengthsin excess of 400 mm, but the electronic image that is produced islimited in width to 216 mm, the width of the contact image sensor of thescanner module 11. Other contact image sensors widths may also be fittedto the compact scanner according to the present invention withappropriate scaling of the scanner dimensions.

The scanner module 11, when detached from the terminal base 20 of thedocument-scanning terminal according to the present invention, is alsooperable as a standalone scanner peripheral that is independentlyoperable when connected to a computer (such as a personal computer,hereafter “PC”) via a parallel port. This approach offers considerableadvantages for manufacturing cost, maintenance and upgrade.

FIG. 3 is a side view of the transactional document-scanning terminalaccording to the present invention, showing the scanner module 11relative to the rigid terminal base 20. The document scanner module 11may be advantageously placed on the terminal base 20 at the front of theterminal to facilitate the operation, maintenance and upgrade thereof.Indeed, scanner modules 11 having many different characteristics may befitted to the terminal base 20. Such characteristics may include, forexample, differing image resolutions (such as 100 dpi, 160 dpi, 300 dpi,400 dpi, 600 dpi or other resolutions), different scan feed speeds,black and while, gray shade, color, different blind colors, differentlight sources and image sensors for special security inks, differentpaper path for handling light paper or rigid paper, full duplex bothside scanning, non-optical scanners such as inductive and capacitivescanning of conductive inks, rigid identity (ID) card scanner, flat bedscanner and/or a combination of the various options listed above. Forexample, should the document scanner module 11 be used to scan rigid IDcards, the module 11 may incorporate the functionality and/or structuredisclosed (and/or claimed) in commonly assigned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/902,872 entitled “ID Card Image Reader” filed on Jul. 30,1997, the disclosure of which is incorporated in its entirety.Alternatively, should the document scanner module 11 be used to scandocuments including conductive ink features, the module 11 mayincorporate the functionality and/or structure disclosed (and/orclaimed) in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/076,666 entitled “Scratchable Conductive Latex Document Scanner”filed on May 12, 1998, the disclosure of which is also incorporatedherewith in its entirety. The document scanning module may be equippedwith an automatic document feeding mechanism. To insure that documentsare fed to the module automatically when presented thereto and are fedtherein without performance degrading skew, the scanning module 11 mayincorporate the functionality and/or structure disclosed (and/orclaimed) in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/904,337 entitled “Anti-Skew Auto-Start System for Document Scanners”and filed on Jul. 31, 1997, the disclosure of which is also incorporatedherewith in its entirety.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the scanning computer terminal of thepresent invention, showing details of the receipt printer assembly 19.In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4, the receipt printer assembly 19 isintegrated within the scanning computer terminal. Moreover, the receiptprinter assembly 19 is configured such that a large cylindrical paperroll 43 is placed in a position that provides the most overall compactsize. In FIG. 4, the receipt printer assembly 19 is shown in the paperloading and servicing state, wherein a sliding tray 41 that supports thepaper roll 43 and the assembly 19 is fully extended. The cylindricalpaper roll 43 and a printer mechanism 40 are secured on the tray 41 thatslides in and out of the terminal, constrained by sliding guides 42. Thepivoting door 46 may be closed when the receipt printer is pushed backfully inside the scanning terminal, as shown in FIGS. 1–3. The free end45 of the paper roll 43 is guided out of the scanning terminal by thereceipt exit guide 12 that may be located on the door 46. According tofurther embodiments of the present invention, the sliding tray 41 may beconfigured such that the paper loading and servicing may be performedfrom the other side of the terminal or from the rear thereof.

The cylindrical paper roll 43 is preferably placed on the sliding tray41 such the two flat edges of the cylindrical roll 43 lie substantiallyparallel to the facing surface of the sliding tray 41 and/orsubstantially parallel to the base surface 22 (shown in FIG. 3) of theterminal. The base surface 22 of the terminal is that surface closest toand parallel to the surface supporting the scanning computer terminal.

FIG. 14 is a cross section showing how the paper roll is placed on thesliding tray 41. The paper roll 43 is placed on a rotating platter 142that rotates freely around the spindle 47. In order to deliver a smoothrotation for the heavy paper roll that could weight several kilograms, acircular thrust bearing 48 is used between the sliding tray 41 and therotating platter 142. Dry and self-lubricating thrust bearings made ofhigh performance polymer such as IGLIDUR from IGUS GmbH of Germany areparticularly well suited for this use, and the large quantity of paperdust generated during the life of the printer does not affect thequality of the smoothness of the rotation. Balls or rollers thrustbearings will become contaminated by fine paper dust resulting instickiness that would affect the smoothness of the paper platterrotation. The life of the trust bearing 48 is preferably in access of 8years.

A handle 44 may be used to pull out and push in the receipt printerassembly 19 from the casing 10 on the sliding tray 41 guided by thesliding guides 42. A stopper mechanism may be provided to prevent thesliding tray 41 from being pulled out too far. A stabilizing mechanismmay also be provided to prevent the terminal from tilting due to thetorque applied by the weight of the paper roll 43 and the tray 41 whenthe sliding tray 41 is in its fully extended position (as shown in FIG.4).

The printer mechanism 40 of the receipt printer assembly 19 may beadvantageously equipped with an automatic paper cutting mechanism thatcleanly cuts the paper from the paper roll 43 and frees the paper whenthe printing of the receipt is completed. The printer mechanism 40 maybe of the thermal print type, impact type, electric burning or arcingtype, ink jet type or any other compact printing technology. A suitablethermal printer mechanism with an auto-cutter feature is the Epson modelM-T301. Advantageously, the printer mechanism 40 may also be fitted witha read-after-print mechanism in order to detect print anomalies orscanning or printing failures. Suitable read-after-print mechanismsinclude mechanisms of the barcode reader type, contact image sensor typeor any other compact imaging technology. The scanning terminal accordingto the present invention may be configured with an internal receiptprinter assembly, as shown at reference 19, with an external receiptprinter, or without any receipt printer assembly at all.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the scanning computer terminal of thepresent invention, showing examples of various sizes of displays thatmay be fitted thereto. Indeed, the present scanning terminal mayaccommodate displays such as a 7-inch Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) 51, a6-inch LCD 52 or a 12-inch LCD 53, for example. The displays 51, 52 or53 may be color or monochrome graphics displays, may employ LCD orplasma technologies or any lightweight flat panel technology.Alternatively, the present scanning terminal may also be fitted withsimpler and more economical displays such as line displays, simplestatus indicators (such as Light Emitting Diodes—LED) or no display atall.

The casing 10 may be covered by a replaceable cover 17 that is fixed byquick release interlocking clips. The cover 17 supports a display 51,52, 53 and the keyboard module 14. Different configurations of the cover17 may accommodate displays 51, 52, 53 of different sizes. Theelectrical contacts to carry the electrical signals and power betweendisplay 51, 52, 53 and the control electronics (shown in FIG. 13), andbetween the keyboard module 14 and the control electronics may beestablished via integrated connectors that do not require manualhandling. Selection of display type or later upgrade may, therefore, besimply carried out by changing the cover 17 and the display 51, 52, 53.

The display 51, 52, 53 may be tilted a various angles, using a retainingmechanism such as friction hinges, spring click locking, pin locking orhand tightening knob. According to a further embodiment of the presentinvention, the display 51, 52, 53 may be advantageously fitted with atouch screen to enable manual user interaction. In that case, astabilizing mechanism is preferably added to avoid the display tiltingback when manual pressure is applied to the touch panel. The terminal,when including a touch screen, may omit the keyboard module 14.Alternatively, the terminal of the present invention may include both akeyboard module 14 and a touch screen display. FIG. 6 is a perspectiveview showing the scanning terminal fitted with a 6-inch display 52 andan appropriately dimensioned cover 17, whereas FIG. 7 is a perspectiveview showing the scanning terminal fitted with a 12-inch display 53 andan appropriately dimensioned cover 17.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of several embodiments of the keyboardmodule 14, including several alternative key layouts. The keyboardmodule 14 is fixed to the cover 17 of the terminal by quick releaseinterlocking clips of the type shown, for example, at reference numeral24 in FIG. 2. Various keyboard configurations may, therefore, be fittedto the terminal by simply changing the color and/or keypad layout suchas shown at reference numerals 81, 82 and 83. The keyboard modules 14,81, 82 and 83 allow a flexible means for the user to interact with theterminal. As the keyboard module 14, 81, 82 or 83 may be attached to theterminal cover 17, various configurations and/or combinations ofkeyboard module 14, 81, 82 and 83 and the display module 13, 51, 52 or53 may be implemented by simply replacing the cover 17, the keyboardmodule 14, 81, 82 and 83 and the display module 13, 51, 52, 53, withoutaffecting the rest of the terminal. This flexibility is particularlyadvantageous when customizing or upgrading the terminal.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the terminal with the cover 17removed. The cover 17 of the terminal may be quickly and easilyseparated and removed from the casing 10 by releasing quick releaseinterlocking clips. The cylindrical paper roll 43, according to theembodiment shown in FIG. 9, is positioned horizontally and centrallywithin the casing 10 to offer optimum compactness. The printer mechanism40 of the assembly 19 is placed close to one side of the casing 10 andprints the receipt 18. The scanning terminal and hence the printermechanism 40 may be configured such that the receipt 18 is retrievedfrom either side or from the rear of the terminal of the presentinvention. The paper roll 43 may be mounted onto a sliding tray 41, asshown in FIG. 4. Alternatively, the paper roll 43 and/or the receiptprinter assembly 19 may be mounted to the terminal base 20 (as alsoshown in FIG. 11). In that case, the loading of the cylindrical roll 43may be carried out by removing the cover 17 as shown in FIG. 9 (and/orthe casing 10 as shown in FIG. 11) and dropping the roll 43 onto thespindle 47.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the scanning terminal showing thecasing 10 removed. The casing 10 may be separated from the terminal base20 by releasing quick release interlocking clips 112. The scanner module11, the paper roll 43 and the printer mechanism 40 may remain in placewhen the casing 10 is removed.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view showing the scanning terminal according tothe present invention in a partially disassembled state. The terminalmay be constructed according to various customer requirements by simplyselecting the appropriate modules that may be attached to the base 20and the casing 10; that is, the type of scanner module 11, the cover 17corresponding to the display 13, the keyboard module 14, the keyboardtray 126, the layout of the keyboard module 14, the type of receiptprinter assembly 19 and the accessories to be fitted in the accessorybay 16 of the terminal base 20. As alluded in the description associatedwith FIG. 9, the cylindrical paper roll 43 and/or the receipt printerassembly 19 may be mounted to the terminal base20, rather than on asliding tray 41. In that case, removal of the cover 17 and/or the casing10 as shown in FIG. 11 allows unencumbered access to both thecylindrical paper roll 43 and the receipt printer assembly 19 for paperloading and/or servicing purposes.

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of the terminal base 20, enlarged to showdetail. The terminal base 20 is rigidly constructed to support all theaccessories fitted in the accessories bay 16, and all the modules shownin FIG. 11. The base 20 further encloses all the control and processingelectronics detailed in FIG. 13.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of the control and processing electronics 100of the present scanning computer terminal, according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. The terminal control and processing electronics100 comprises an embedded CPU 150 and memory 151 for executing theoperating system software, the interfaces and peripherals controlsoftware, and the application software. The control electronics depictedin FIG. 13 may implement a general-purpose computer terminal withdocument scanning capabilities, or may implement a document-scanningterminal with processing abilities. The various peripherals that may becontrolled by the control electronics include, for example, the documentscanner module 11 via the scanner interface 154, the receipt printerassembly 19 via the printer interface 157 (the printer assembly 19 maybe fitted with a read-after-print option 102), the display 13 via thedisplay interface 156 (the display 13 may be fitted with a touch panelfor user interactivity) and/or a keyboard 14 via the keyboard interface155. The accessories bay 16 of the terminal base 20 may be fitted withvarious accessories 105 including, for example, a barcode reader such asa laser barcode reader or a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) barcode reader,random access mass storage devices such as hard disk, floppy diskreader, CD-or DVD-ROM reader, removable memory module such as PCMCIAflash card, a smart chip reader such as a smart card reader or a smartkey reader, and/or a wireless interface such as an infrared or highfrequency (HF) interface, each of which may be controlled by anappropriate interface (collectively represented in FIG. 13 by theaccessories interface 153). The scanning terminal control electronicsmay also include a cash register interface 106 for controlling a cashdrawer 158, a speaker 107 coupled to a sound interface 152 and a networkinterface 108 for communicating with a network 159 such as dial-upmodem, ISDN, xDSL, Ethernet or local area network for example, andgeneral purpose interfaces 109 for communicating with devices fittedwith standard interfaces such a parallel ports, serial ports, USB ports,mouse ports, keyboard ports, etc. The interfaces 108, 106 and 109 may beaccessible at the rear 21 (shown in FIG. 12) of the base 20 of thescanning terminal according to the present invention. For example, thecontrol electronics 100 may include the functionality and/or structuredisclosed and/or claimed in commonly assigned U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 08/931,131 entitled “Universal Document Scanner Controller”filed on Sep. 16, 1997, the disclosure of which is incorporated herewithin its entirety. The power requirements of the scanning terminalaccording to the present invention may advantageously be met by ascanner power module, as disclosed and/or claimed in commonly assignedU.S. Pat. No. 5,847,948 entitled “Scanner Power Module” and filed onJul. 30, 1997, the disclosure of which is also incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. Such a scanner power module may readily behoused in the accessory bay 16 of the terminal base 20.

The modular transactional scanning terminal described herein offers avery compact, high performance, heavy duty solution for scanning largesize documents and is capable of addressing the needs of a wide varietyof transactional document scanning applications in fields such asbanking, finance, legal, accounting, administration, insurance,healthcare, post office, gaming, police, security, retail, education ortransportation, for example.

Professional document scanners such as the compact modular transactionalscanning terminal presented are not mass produced products, andtherefore, modularity and flexible configuration from a base product areextremely important attributes in order to meet customer requirementsand personalization at a low price. Moreover, the scanning module 11presented herein may also function as a standalone scanner peripheralwhen connected to a standard personal computer via a parallel port; thisapproach offers considerable advantages for manufacturing cost,maintenance and upgrade.

While the foregoing detailed description has described preferredembodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that theabove description is illustrative only and not limiting of the disclosedinvention. For example, other receipt printer configurations may occurto those of skill in this art. Still other modifications may occur tothose of skill in this art. Thus, the present invention to be limitedonly by the claims as set forth below.

1. A modular computer terminal, comprising: a document scanner module;control and processing electronics; a display module; a keyboard module,wherein the modules each include releasable interlocking clips allowingthe moldules to be attached to or separated free from one another; anintegrated printer, the integrated printer being configured to print areceipt after the document module scans a document, the receiptincluding a readable code linking the printed receipt to informationassociated with the scanned document, and a code reader configured toread the code, the display module displaying the information associatedwith the scanned document when the code reader reads the code printed onthe receipt.
 2. The modular computer terminal of claim 1, furthercomprising: a terminal base housing the control and processingelectronic, and a terminal casing removably fitted to the terminal base,the terminal casing enclosing the printer.
 3. The modular computerterminal of claim 2, wherein the terminal casing is configured toenclose a rotatably mounted cylindrical paper roll that supplies paperto the printer, flat edges of the paper roll being substantiallyparallel to the base surface of the terminal.
 4. The modular computerterminal of claim 1, further comprising a random access mass storagedevice, the storage device storing and allowing access to theinformation associated with the scanned document.
 5. The modularcomputer terminal of claim 1, wherein the integrated printer includes aread-after-print mechanism to detect printing failures.
 6. A modularcomputer terminal, comprising: a document scanner module; control andprocessing electronics; a display module; a keyboard module; anintegrated printer, the printer being configured to print a receiptafter the document scanner module scans a document, the receiptincluding a readable code linking the printed receipt to informationassociated with the scanned document, and a code reader configured toread the code, the display module displaying the information associatedwith the scanned document when the code reader reads the code printed onthe receipt, wherein the modules each include quick release interlockingclips allowing the modules to be attached to or separated from oneanother.
 7. The modular computer terminal of claim 6, furthercomprising: a terminal base housing the control and processingelectronic, and a terminal casing removably fitted to the terminal base,the terminal casing enclosing the printer.
 8. The modular computerterminal of claim 7, wherein the terminal casing is configured toenclose a rotatably mounted cylindrical paper roll that supplies paperto the printer, flat edges of the paper roll being substantiallyparallel to the base surface of the terminal.
 9. The modular computerterminal of claim 6, further comprising a random access mass storagedevice, the storage device storing and allowing access to theinformation associated with the scanned document.
 10. The modularcomputer terminal of claim 6, wherein the integrated printer includes aread-after-print mechanism to detect printing failures.